Events

27 Feb 2019

Belarus initiates children's rights event in UN

Photo courtesy of the MFA

MINSK, 27 February (BelTA) - Belarus’ Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Dapkiunas took part in the featured event “Children’s rights and the SDGs: friendly and smart sustainable cities as an essential condition for ensuring the rights of the child” organized in the UN Office in Geneva and initiated by Belarus in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is the first time that Geneva has hosted such event on the rights of children in the context of modern urban development with the participation of leading UN agencies. Belarus initiated this event proceeding from its national experience in developing a network of cities friendly to children and teenagers which now encompasses 25 cities, including Minsk.

The participants agreed on a direct link between the state development, development of urban infrastructure and the ability of states to provide an adequate response to the development needs of children and, ultimately, to ensure an appropriate level of respect for the rights of the child. The parties recommended using end-to-end child factoring in the development of measures of national governments and local authorities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The panelists pointed to the existence of a wide potential for improving interaction between governments, local city authorities, UN agencies, non-governmental and private sectors to promote development at the country level and to ensure the interests of each person and child.

The results of the event and Belarus’ national experience will be laid out in April 2019 at the forum of mayors on the margins of the session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and later in Cologne at the global forum of cities friendly to children. It is expected that the results of this work will be useful as sources of best practices for interested states and agencies of the UN system.

UNICEF Regional Director Afshan Khan, UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau Chaesub Lee were among the speakers. Taking part in the event were also experts from the abovementioned agencies, young people of Belarus and a number of international non-governmental organizations.

The concept of child-friendly cities is a program designed to help the city become more child-friendly in all aspects related to management, infrastructure and services. A key element of such cities is the mandatory participation of children and young people in decision-making processes that affect their interests.

Andrei Dapkiunas met with UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, Special Coordinator for the Refuge and Migrant Response in Europe Afshan Khan to discuss a wide range of issues related to cooperation between Belarus and UNICEF at the national and international levels. Afshan Khan welcomed Belarus’ commitment to open cooperation with UNICEF and lauded the country’s significant progress, first of all, in child healthcare and education. The UNICEF regional director expressed readiness to continue all possible support to Belarus’ government in improving the national policy of children’s rights.

For his part, Andrei Dapkiunas hailed the active position of the UNICEF regional and country offices in attracting best international practices in Belarus in close partnership with the government bodies to ensure the truly sustainable development of society and its institutions, and implement the concept of securing the rights and needs of every citizen and child.



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